L. Lee

This very fancy, hand packed can of prime solid white tuna was sitting on my desk one day this week.  It was from a gentleman who tells me a lot about his and his wife’s drives up the California coast, the blueprints for their new home, and his son’s life.  He also asks me a lot of questions about my own life, and sometimes when we talk about things I wonder what he was like as a younger man.

I imagine him as a dashing, cavalier office man who fell in love with the finer things in life.  I imagine he was romantic and teased a lot of women and found it easy to charm them with his intelligence and wit. 

He is very tall but is now stooped over in the upper back.  He has clear blue eyes that really truly twinkle.  He’s a little hard of hearing but he cracks jokes the moment an opportunity presents itself. 

The boxes of wine from his wine club subscriptions arrive at the office, and he tenderly opens it and inspects each one.  He always, always brings lunch from home and has with it a small can of V-8 with lime juice. 

As I mentioned, he’s one of the tallest people in the office and is a tall person by any measure.  He drives a mini-cooper.  On the days when he doesn’t drive a mini-cooper, he drives a bright red, 2-door BMW. 

Sometimes, into those two cars will go loads of recyclables.  He hates waste, hates the idea of a perfectly recyclable item not being recycled properly.  If the recycling company for some reason refuses to accept a certain thingamajig, he will break it down and take it home with him. 

He and his wife are building their own home against a mountain backdrop in Sierra Madre.  It’s so modern that two banks refused to give them a loan based on the architects’ blueprints.

One day, I picked up a call from his son, who said that he was at Katy’s Smokehouse and wanted to know how much fish his father wanted. 

Have you ever heard of Katy’s Smokehouse, my gentlemanly colleague asked me. They have the best fish. 

No, where is it?

In Trinidad.

Trinidad???

It’s a city in Northern California. 

Oh.

Do you like fish?

Is that a question?  Of course I do.

I’ll bring you some tuna on Monday.

And voila.  Here it is, all bright and fancy.  You do not drain it.  You mix it back in with the oils.  I will be making a tuna sandwich this weekend.